Water
by 100-series
Summary: Karol is lost. Is there really something that the awesome Yuri can't do?


_Hello! This is my first Vesperia fanfiction.  
It is a short scene about Yuri and Karol, but let me make it clear that it's not Yuri/Karol, OK? KTHXBAI.  
_

**Water (Yuri and Karol)**

Yuri was pretty young (for an adult anyway), but he knew a lot of things. Or maybe he didn't really _know_ those things so much as when he found himself in new situations he was able to slide out of them without even seeming surprised.

Yuri was just too cool, like he was made out of water. Well... Rita said one time that your whole body is mostly water, but that's not the point. Yuri was calm and placid like a lake early in the morning. He was dark and bottomless like the ocean. Even when he laughed, he just rolled like a wave. In battle he was like a burst dam, a force of nature that you don't want to get tangled up with.

Yuri was just too damned _cool_!

So when Yuri said, "I don't know, but tell me about it if you find out," in that rolling wave sort of way, Karol thought that he was joking again--being patronizing or something. Karol didn't mind when Yuri did that, because deep down inside, he always thought it would be so awesome to have Yuri for an older brother and Raven for a dad. It wasn't like he was getting talked down to or anything. Yuri wasn't like that.

"Come on, I'm old enough to think about things like that!" Karol said. "If you tell anybody I asked you that I'm gonna kill you, but I do wanna know."

Yuri shrugged. "Go ask Raven," he said. "I'm sure he can tell you all about women."

"I don't want to know about the kind of woman Raven hangs out with," Karol retorted, disgusted that Yuri would even suggest that. Maybe in his youth Raven had a real girlfriend, but all the ones he hung out with now were floozies.

"I've never had a girlfriend," Yuri said, looking Karol right in the eyes. That meant he was serious business about whatever he was saying.

Karol was so positively shocked that he leaned back into a sitting position, having not even noticed that he'd gotten up on his knees in anxiety. "What?" he stammered. "Why? I mean, come on, Yuri! Never?"

Yuri looked away and shrugged again, this time smiling and turning his palms upwards in a smooth, comical gesture. "It's complicated."

"Oh man..." Karol sighed, in awe of the situation. He couldn't comprehend something that even Yuri couldn't tackle. "If you can't figure it out, then I shouldn't even try..."

It was a pretty night. The stars were sparkling brightly. Several months had passed since their beauty had been blocked from view by the Adaphagos. He and Yuri sat out on the grass along with Repede. Karol thought maybe there was some secret that Yuri could share with him on a peaceful night like this when all the others were resting inside. He thought that this might end up being one of those cool-guy to little-guy talks that he had with Yuri sometimes where he would realize something insightful and know exactly what it was he was supposed to do.

"Does this have something to do with the fact that we're almost to Dahngrest?" Yuri asked after a long pause.

"Yeah," Karol admitted, heaving a sigh. "I was hoping maybe since things are back to normal--well, you know, as normal as things get around here--maybe I could talk to Nan again."

"Ha ha," Yuri chuckled, shifting to lean back on his arms. "Yeah, that girl doesn't seem entirely interested in you, boss."

Karol frowned. "Hey, that's not very encouraging..."

"I'm not trying to be," Yuri answered. "You think I say these things because I think you need a pep talk, but I'm usually being completely straight with you."

"Yeah, I know." This did not make him feel better in the least. "I guess it's hopeless."

"Don't say that now," Yuri said in an awkward attempt to make up for his previous lack of encouragement. "That last time we ran into her she seemed kind of impressed. I mean... at least a little bit."

"I just wish--" Karol began to froth, not really hearing Yuri anymore. "I wish there was some bad guy or something I could save her from, and then she could see that I really am reliable! And I could show her how strong I'm getting, and I could be totally awesome. Heroic and stuff! Like when you saved Estelle!"

"Whoa, whoa," Yuri groaned. "Don't get so carried away. A girl like that is different from Estelle, you know? I think she'd hate being rescued."

"Really?" Karol wondered. He had just assumed it was some universal thing that happened to girls.

"Just go talk to her," Yuri sighed, and plopped flat on the ground. "What's the worst that could happen? You'd look like a fool. Like that doesn't happen every time you see her anyway."

"You're right, Yuri!" Karol declared and stood up. "Wait... not every time..." He recovered from this slight wavering of his spirit and clapped one fist into the palm of his other hand. "I'm gonna go see her. Right now, Yuri!"

"Sure," Yuri answered sleepily. "Go."

"And when she sees I'm alone, she'll probably ask 'what, did you leave your friends behind?' and I'll say 'what, you mean my posse? I just let them have a day off!'"

Yuri started to snore.

"Oh, forget you, Yuri," Karol sighed. "You don't even know how to make a girl like you."

Karol stomped off confidently in the direction of Dahngrest. It wasn't all that far away, the group merely figured it would be cheaper to camp out here than stay at the inn. He was going to find Nan and invite her to join _his_ guild, Brave Vesperia!

Yuri watched from the hill where he pretended to have fallen asleep as Karol took the road down to the Den of Guilds where he was born.

"I think it just comes natural," he laughed softly.

Repede gave a short grunt as if to put Yuri back in his place, and flicked his tail before going back to sleep.


End file.
